1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for forming the information such as characters or images onto the recording medium, and more particularly to a recording apparatus which can mount an image reading device for reading the character or image information and converting it into electrical signal.
2. Related Background Art
Recording apparatuses are provided with recording means having a plurality of recording elements for forming the character or image onto a recording medium such as a paper, a cloth or a plastic sheet, based on the character or image information, to perform the recording operation by driving the recording means under the control of control means. These recording apparatuses can be classified into an ink jet system, a wire dot system, a thermal system, and a laser beam system, in accordance with the recording system of recording means used.
Among these recording apparatuses, a serial-type recording apparatus which takes the recording system of scanning in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of recording medium (sub-scan direction) can accomplish the image recording over the entire area of recording medium by repeating such an operation that after setting the recording medium at a predetermined recording position, the image recording (main scanning) of one line is conducted by recording means (recording head) mounted on a carriage which moves along the surface of recording medium, after completion of recording one line, the paper feed by a predetermined amount (sub-scanning) is conducted, and then the image recording of the next line (main scanning) is performed.
On the other hand, a line-type recording apparatus which performs the recording only by the sub-scanning of feeding the recording medium in the conveying direction can perform the image recording over the entire area of recording medium by repeating the operation of, after setting the recording medium at a predetermined recording position, recording one line collectively, feeding (in pitches) the medium by a predetermined amount, and then recording the next line collectively.
There are various types of recording apparatuses as above described, but among others, a recording apparatus of the ink jet type (an ink jet recording apparatus), i.e., one performing the recording by discharging the ink from recording means (recording head) onto the recording medium, has been presented in various application forms in recent years, owing to its favorable advantages including (1) easy construction of more compact recording means, (2) recordability of higher definition image at higher speed, (3) usability of plain paper for recording without needs of any special treatment, (4) lower running cost, (5) less noise owing to the non-impact method, and (6) easy recording of color image by using multi-color inks.
In particular, an apparatus having recording means (recording head) of the ink jet system of discharging the ink by the use of heat energy can be easily fabricated with an arrangement of liquid channels (discharge ports) at high density by forming electrothermal converters, electrodes, liquid channel walls, and a ceiling plate as the film on a substrate through a semiconductor fabrication process including etching, vapor deposition and sputtering, and thus has found wide application due to its advantage that more compact construction can be attained.
The above ink jet recording apparatus, which typically uses a recording head with an arrangement of fine discharge ports, performs the quality preserving operations as described below for the recording head in order to recover or maintain it in the state capable of forming the excellent image, in the cases where there is sticking ink droplet or foreign matter around discharge ports, or entrained air bubble or dust into any discharge ports, or the ink becomes unsuitable for discharging or recording due to thickening or fixing of ink caused by the evaporation of ink solvent.
For example, when the power of recording apparatus is turned off, or the recording apparatus will not be used over a long period of time, an operation of enclosing the recording head face with a cap made of highly sealable material such as rubber (capping operation) is performed to prevent evaporation of the ink solvent from the discharge ports.
Furthermore, immediately after the initialization by turning on the power of recording apparatus main body, directly before starting the recording onto the recording medium set at a predetermined recording position, or directly before starting the next recording after discharging the ink by a predetermined amount of ink or more, an operation of wiping the surface of recording head beforehand with a wiping member to remove the foreign matter or ink adhering around the discharge ports (wiping operation) is performed.
Furthermore, when less excellent image is obtained despite the capping operation or wiping operation as above, for example, when the air bubble or dust is mixed into any discharge ports, or the ink within discharge ports is thickened or fixed therearound since the recording head has been left away without conducting the capping operation, due to some cause, an operation of compulsorily sucking the ink from the discharge ports by applying a negative pressure onto the head surface via a pump connected to a cap after performing the above capping operation (suction recovery operation) is performed.
Besides, although this operation is not directly applied on the recording head, if the capping operation is made in the state where an amount of ink remains within the cap, e.g., immediately after the suction recovery operation, the ink may be flowed back into the discharge ports to possibly cause damage to the recording head, and to prevent such damage, an operation of compulsorily sucking the ink from inside the cap before performing the capping operation (idle suction operation) may be conducted as one of the quality preserving operations.
By the way, by combining various technologies for the smaller or more composite construction of the recording apparatus as above described, numerous products capable of fulfilling multifunctions with one apparatus have been developed in recent years. Among others, many recording apparatuses have been proposed which can take in the image information by miniaturizing an image reading device (scanner) of sensing the image information with a photosensor and converting it into electrical signal, and shaping that device to be mountable on, for example, a carriage on which the recording head has been mounted (Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-20832, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-21711, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-21712). These recording apparatuses having the image reading function are not an ink jet recording apparatus, but the ink jet recording apparatuses capable of mounting such a scanner include conceivably the serial type in which the carriage mounting the recording head is also employed as scanner mounting means, and the line type in which a line head for recording one line onto the recording medium collectively and the carriage which mounts a scanner are separately provided.
However, the conventional scanner mountable recording apparatus has the following problems.
In the recording apparatus capable of mounting the scanner, a variety of quality preserving operations as above described may also be performed during the course of reading the image by scanner. One example is an initialization routine, as shown in FIG. 8, in the ink jet recording apparatus of the serial type capable of mounting the scanner, in which when the power is turned on, all of the suction recovery operation, idle suction operation, wiping operation, and capping operation are automatically carried out, whether the recording head or scanner is mounted on the carriage. In this way, the conventional scanner mountable recording apparatus has a problem that, because the reading operation by scanner causes unnecessary quality preserving operations to be performed, an excess amount of time may be taken in reading. Furthermore, the serial-type recording apparatus as previously mentioned may have possibly a significant trouble that the ink adhering to the cap or wiping member is scattered over the surface of scanner upon the capping or wiping operation, because the scanner is mounted on the same carriage as the recording head, thereby causing an abnormal reading operation.